Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

This is a surprisingly terrific read. For a paranormal romance. I actually got a feeling of suspense and danger whilst reading it. The novel has some great ideas...vampire suicide bombers for one...the gay bes'friend for another. I particularly enjoyed how the heroine used her past issues to help the hero and move the plot along. Very clever.

Best of all the main couple spend lots of time and chapters together as they develop their relationship. (Unlike in the Ward series.) And the heroine gives as good as she gets from the hero. No doormats allowed. (Unlike in the Kenyon series) Although Gabrielle and Lucan have sex before they acknowledge their love for one another it seemed entirely appropriate seeing how they were both emotionally mature adults. Also Lucan actually gives Gabrielle a choice about becoming his 'mate.' See what I mean about this story featuring adults? Having said that I have to admit that the hero does behave like a doofus a couple of times. Happily there is very little "I'm not worthy" rubbish from either of them. A word about the tatts...boootiful.

Basically Kiss of Midnight has a welcome linear plot. Such a refreshing change from the chaotic mish-mashs that form both Wards and Kenyon's series novels. That's probably because Kiss was written by a single author and the BDB and DH are so obviously produced by a committee of disparate hacks. At the same time it also displays the disadvantages of a one author novel...the struggle for words and the slow start being two.

Now listen up. This novel is recommeded by J R Ward on the fantasticfiction website. Can you believe that? Particularly when Kiss of Midnight is in many ways a simpler carbon copy of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And even the cover art imitates the original covers of the BDB. So we all know exactly who really wrote Kiss of Midnight don't we? And if you look at the synopsis for the follow-up, Kiss of Crimson, it's a story of an (animal) doctor meeting a vampire warrior which is exactly what happens in the extract from Lover Unbound. Except that Crimson will obviously have a happy ending and LU may not.

We shall see.